Swedish Immigration in 1800's with a Small 1600's brief...
By Emma
The Swedish government hired an experienced and well known dutch adventurer, Peter Munit, to start a small colony in America. He took 50 Swedes with him in two vessels owned by the Swedish West India Company. The people established a small settlement in the Delaware Bay. It was then 1638. The town was named Christina as a tribute to the young queen of Sweden. The settlers got mixed up in the game of furs and tobacco. This caused conflict with Dutch, and English settlers. The governor of the New Netherlands colony arrived in 1655 with an armada and they took the Swedes by force.
After much pondering....it wasn't until the 19th century that Swedes thought about settling in America again. Most of Swedish soil was not good. 40% of soil was unproductive. This got worse as population increased. It got even worse in the 1850's. There was a succesion of poor harvest and there was a larger number of enemployed people and wages dropped. Many people wanted to emmigrate. Most of these poeple were bankruptnfarmers and broke agricultural laborers. A few more push forces were religious prosecution, people of another religion could be fined, put in jail or exiled from the country. This practice stopped in 1858 but people were still predejuice.Other reasons are the mandatory military service required by law. Yound men in 1860 were required to train for the military for at least 30 days out of the year. New York based organazations like the American Emigrant Company would encourage people to come to America. Often an agent would be sent to a swedish festival and talk about the advantages of emmigrating to America. Swedish immigrants usually traveled on boats carrying iron to New York. The fare was cheap at twelve dollars per person. It would usually take about seven weeks. At the American harbor was very organized. New York ships were usually met by somerepresentatives from Bethel Ship Mission. An organazation that helps immigrants go west. For most Swedes, New York was merely a half-way point, paddle steamer brought passengers up and down the Hudson River and the Erie Canal. Railroads took poeple strait to Chicagp. Swedes were seen marching military style with both the Swedish and American flag in hand to the railroad station. One of the first new colonies of the Swedish was made by Gustav Unonius, in New Upsala, Wisconsin the year was 1841. The year after Peter Cassel founded New Sweden in Jefferson County. Within a couple of years this settlement had over 500 swedish immigrants living there. Minnesota had over 400 names of immigrants with Scandanavian orgin. A big pull for land hungry immigrants to America was Abraham Lincoln's "Homestead Act." Another pull factor was Minnesota, the surroundings in Minnesota reminded many Swedes of home and the ground was nice and arable many went into farming. Minnesota pull forces also include higher wages. Minnesota was probably one of the most popular places for Swedish immigrants.
Swedish Immigration in 1800's with a Small 1600's brief...
By EmmaThe Swedish government hired an experienced and well known dutch adventurer, Peter Munit, to start a small colony in America. He took 50 Swedes with him in two vessels owned by the Swedish West India Company. The people established a small settlement in the Delaware Bay. It was then 1638. The town was named Christina as a tribute to the young queen of Sweden. The settlers got mixed up in the game of furs and tobacco. This caused conflict with Dutch, and English settlers. The governor of the New Netherlands colony arrived in 1655 with an armada and they took the Swedes by force.
After much pondering....it wasn't until the 19th century that Swedes thought about settling in America again. Most of Swedish soil was not good. 40% of soil was unproductive. This got worse as population increased. It got even worse in the 1850's. There was a succesion of poor harvest and there was a larger number of enemployed people and wages dropped. Many people wanted to emmigrate. Most of these poeple were bankruptnfarmers and broke agricultural laborers. A few more push forces were religious prosecution, people of another religion could be fined, put in jail or exiled from the country. This practice stopped in 1858 but people were still predejuice.Other reasons are the mandatory military service required by law. Yound men in 1860 were required to train for the military for at least 30 days out of the year. New York based organazations like the American Emigrant Company would encourage people to come to America. Often an agent would be sent to a swedish festival and talk about the advantages of emmigrating to America. Swedish immigrants usually traveled on boats carrying iron to New York. The fare was cheap at twelve dollars per person. It would usually take about seven weeks. At the American harbor was very organized. New York ships were usually met by somerepresentatives from Bethel Ship Mission. An organazation that helps immigrants go west. For most Swedes, New York was merely a half-way point, paddle steamer brought passengers up and down the Hudson River and the Erie Canal. Railroads took poeple strait to Chicagp. Swedes were seen marching military style with both the Swedish and American flag in hand to the railroad station. One of the first new colonies of the Swedish was made by Gustav Unonius, in New Upsala, Wisconsin the year was 1841. The year after Peter Cassel founded New Sweden in Jefferson County. Within a couple of years this settlement had over 500 swedish immigrants living there. Minnesota had over 400 names of immigrants with Scandanavian orgin. A big pull for land hungry immigrants to America was Abraham Lincoln's "Homestead Act." Another pull factor was Minnesota, the surroundings in Minnesota reminded many Swedes of home and the ground was nice and arable many went into farming. Minnesota pull forces also include higher wages. Minnesota was probably one of the most popular places for Swedish immigrants.